Changes

'''Frank Lawrence Owsley''' (January 20, 1890—October 21, 1955) was an American historian of the South, a pioneer in [[quantitative historiography]] and member of the [[Southern Agrarians|Nashville agrarians]].  He was a leading conservative historian of the Old South.

'''Frank Lawrence Owsley''' (January 20, 1890—October 21, 1955) was an [[American]] historian of the South, a pioneer in [[quantitative historiography]] and member of the [[Southern Agrarians|Nashville agrarians]].  He was a leading [[conservative]] historian of the Old South.

==Life and career==

==Life and career==

Born in rural Alabama, he attended [[Auburn University]] and took his PhD in history at the [[University of Chicago]] in 1924 with Professor William E. Dodd. His dissertation was published as '' State Rights and the Confederacy'' (1925).

Born in rural Alabama, he attended [[Auburn University]] and took his PhD in history at the [[University of Chicago]] in 1924 with Professor William E. Dodd. His dissertation was published as '' State Rights and the Confederacy'' (1925).

Owsley specialized in Southern history, especially the ante-bellum and Civil War eras. His most important book, ''King Cotton Diplomacy'' (1931), remains the major study of Confederate diplomacy.   

Owsley specialized in Southern history, especially the ante-bellum and Civil War eras. His most important book, ''King Cotton Diplomacy'' (1931), remains the major study of [[Confederate]] diplomacy.   

As an active member of the [[Southern Agrarians]] group based in Nashville, Owsley contributed "The Irrepressible Conflict," to the famous manifesto ''I'll Take My Stand'' (1930). He lashed out at the North for attempts to dominate the South spiritually and economically.  In "Scottsboro, the Third Crusade: The Sequel to Abolition and Reconstruction,",<ref>Published in the ''American Review''  [1933]: 257-85</ref> he criticized northern race reformers as the "grandchildren of abolitionists and reconstructionists," he announced that the South was white man's country and that African-Americans must accommodate to that reality. Serving as president of the Southern Historical Association in 1940, Owsley castigated the North for assuming it represented the entire nation and for violating what he called "the comity of section."  

As an active member of the [[Southern Agrarians]] group based in Nashville, Owsley contributed "The Irrepressible Conflict," to the famous manifesto ''I'll Take My Stand'' (1930). He lashed out at the North for attempts to dominate the South spiritually and economically.  In "Scottsboro, the Third Crusade: The Sequel to Abolition and Reconstruction,",<ref>Published in the ''American Review''  [1933]: 257-85</ref> he criticized northern race reformers as the "grandchildren of abolitionists and reconstructionists," he announced that the South was white man's country and that African-Americans must accommodate to that reality. Serving as president of the Southern Historical Association in 1940, Owsley castigated the North for assuming it represented the entire nation and for violating what he called "the comity of section."  

At Vanderbilt University (1920–49), Owsley directed nearly 40 PhD dissertations and was a popular teacher of undergraduates.  In 1949 he went to the University of Alabama to build its history program.

At Vanderbilt University (1920–49), Owsley directed nearly 40 PhD dissertations and was a popular teacher of undergraduates.  In 1949 he went to the University of Alabama to build its history program.

Reacting to multiple attacks upon the South by hostile northerners, liberals, modernizers, [[neoabolitionist]] historians, civil rights activists, and left wing writers, Owsley tried to refute their misunderstanding of the true South. He regarded the future of American civilization as dependent on the survival of southern regionalism.  Owsley's masterpiece, ''Plain Folk of the Old South'' (1949), was an answer to neobolitionists' emphasis on the [[Slave Power]] of dominant aristocrats who controlled the South and violated republican norms.  Owsley instead depicts a complex social structure in the South, one featuring a large middle class of yeoman farmers and not just wealthy planters and poor whites. He argues that the South was devoted to republican values generally and was not locked into race and slavery. Owsley felt the Civil War's causes were rooted in both North and South.  A few critics reacted by branded him something he never was: an absolute racist and reactionary defender of the Confederacy who was attempting to rewrite the past in an effort to preserve Southern culture. In fact he rejected the Confederate Lost Cause and the New South school's romantic legends, and he sought to uncovered a "real" South, the plain folk.<ref>Wood (2003)</ref> In depicting Southern society as a broad class of yeoman farmers who stood and worked between the slaves and poor whites at one end and the large planters at the opposite end of the economic spectrum, Owsley asserted that the real South was liberal, American, and Jeffersonian, not radical or reactionary. It reflected the best of [[Republicanism in the United States|republican]] principles (though Owlsey did not use the word "republicanism.") Agrarianism in the 20th century was a response to the industrialism and modernism that had infiltrated the South. According to Owsley, the position of the South vis-à-vis the North was created not by slavery, cotton, or states' rights, but by the two regions' misunderstanding of each other.<ref>Wood 1995</ref>

Reacting to multiple attacks upon the South by hostile northerners, [[liberals]], modernizers, [[neoabolitionist]] historians, civil rights activists, and left wing writers, Owsley tried to refute their misunderstanding of the true South. He regarded the future of American civilization as dependent on the survival of southern regionalism.  Owsley's masterpiece, ''Plain Folk of the Old South'' (1949), was an answer to neobolitionists' emphasis on the [[Slave Power]] of dominant aristocrats who controlled the South and violated republican norms.  Owsley instead depicts a complex social structure in the South, one featuring a large middle class of yeoman farmers and not just wealthy planters and poor whites. He argues that the South was devoted to republican values generally and was not locked into race and slavery. Owsley felt the Civil War's causes were rooted in both North and South.  A few critics reacted by branded him something he never was: an absolute racist and reactionary defender of the Confederacy who was attempting to rewrite the past in an effort to preserve Southern culture. In fact he rejected the Confederate Lost Cause and the New South school's romantic legends, and he sought to uncovered a "real" South, the plain folk.<ref>Wood (2003)</ref> In depicting Southern society as a broad class of yeoman farmers who stood and worked between the slaves and poor whites at one end and the large planters at the opposite end of the economic spectrum, Owsley asserted that the real South was liberal, American, and Jeffersonian, not radical or reactionary. It reflected the best of [[Republicanism in the United States|republican]] principles (though Owlsey did not use the word "republicanism.") Agrarianism in the 20th century was a response to the industrialism and modernism that had infiltrated the South. According to Owsley, the position of the South vis-à-vis the North was created not by slavery, cotton, or states' rights, but by the two regions' misunderstanding of each other.<ref>Wood 1995</ref>

==Bibliography==

==Bibliography==